Botany and Ormiston Times : Howick and Botany Times Thursday January 8 2015

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Howick and Botany Times, Thursday, January 8, 2015 — 11
Volunteer in our charity shops, have fun
whilst supporting the work of Hospice.
Join a friendly team at the heart of your local
community in one of our Totara Hospice shops.
Our dedicated and caring volunteers need more help!
Turn kindly donated goods into much needed support for our patients
and their families. Full training is provided, a great chance to meet
new friends - and there are many ways you can help.
Please contact Wendy Stanmore now if you can help
on: (09) 2983108 or wendy.stanmore@hospice.co.nz
Totara Hospice, 140 Charles Prevost Drive, Manurewa
Volunteer in our charity shops,
have fun whilst supporting
the work of Hospice.
Totara Hospice
140 Charles Prevost Dr, Manurewa
Cancer, and cancer treatment, has many impacts. One that
can be very hard to bear is the toll it takes on appearance.
At Look Good Feel Better we’ve been supporting women, men
and teens with cancer for over 25 years. Our workshops help
people with cancer improve the way they look, letting them
face the world with more confidence, strength and positivity.
The support we give is free to anyone with any cancer, and
extends right across New Zealand. We rely entirely on donations,
the generosity of the cosmetics industry and the work of
volunteers to keep going. By donating to Look Good Feel Better
you help bring smiles to faces that have had little to smile about.
And every dollar goes directly to running the workshops.
Please visit our website or find us on Facebook to contribute.
www.lgfb.co.nz
LookGoodFeelBetterNZ
Cancer, and cancer treatment, has many impacts. One that
can be very hard to bear is the toll it takes on appearance.
At Look Good Feel Better we’ve been supporting women, men
and teens with cancer for over 25 years. Our workshops help
people with cancer improve the way they look, letting them
face the world with more confidence, strength and positivity.
The support we give is free to anyone with any cancer, and
extends right across New Zealand. We rely entirely on donations,
the generosity of the cosmetics industry and the work of
volunteers to keep going. By donating to Look Good Feel Better
you help bring smiles to faces that have had little to smile about.
And every dollar goes directly to running the workshops.
Please visit our website or find us on Facebook to contribute.
www.lgfb.co.nz
LookGoodFeelBetterNZ
December
LEGISLATION came into effect,
■■
lowering the amount of alcohol peo-
ple aged 20 or older could consume
before driving. The new limit fell
from 400 micrograms (mcg) of alco-
hol per litre of breath to 250mcg. The
blood alcohol limit fell from 80 mil-
ligrams (mg) of alcohol per 100 mil-
lilitres of blood to 50mg.
THE Howick community went on
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jubilant display as 60 groups proudly
marched in the Howick Santa Parade
and led in Santa Claus to herald the
beginning of the Christmas season.
Moving the event to Sunday after-
noon from Saturday morning was a
resounding success.
PAKURANGA Vet Clinic owner
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Sasha Nowell got first-hand experi-
ence of the trauma caused when a
beloved pet is attacked with a firearm.
Through her work, she had attended
to and operated on a number of cats
and dogs that had been victims of
shooting incidents, and witnessed
the pain inflicted on the animals. But
after her one-year-old Burmese cat
Snowball was shot in the leg near the
Nowell’s home in Botany, she per-
sonally related to the suffering their
owners go through.
COUNTIES Manukau East Police
■■
established a burglary action team
in an effort to make a dent in rising
crime statistics. Burglaries increased
by more than 50 per cent in October
compared with the same period in
2013.
IT WAS a family affair in How-
■■
ick Valley when the New World
brand, missing in the town for close
to 20 years, made a grand return.
Owner-operators Brendon and Kate
Jones, and their sons, Gaius, four,
and Micah, three, welcomed the first
customers through the doors of the
new supermarket, on the corner of
Wellington Street and Union Road.
It was especially nostalgic moment
for Times Newspapers owners Reay
and Brian Neben who were on hand
to witness the metamorphosis of the
place the Times operated from for
close to 20 years.
HOWICK’S legendary former
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mayor Morrin Cooper fielded “happy
birthday” greeting phone calls in a
variety of forms, from trombones and
guitars to “people who attempted to
sing it”. An elated Mr Cooper was
joined by close family and friends for
lunch at his regular haunt, the How-
ick Club, to celebrate 80 fascinating
years.
MORE than 100 people attended a
■■
ceremony to light up the first stage of
East City Wesleyan Church’s nativity
scene in Burswood. A team of seven
volunteers put their DIY skills where
their mouths were and from July
planned for the big switch-on at the
church building in Burswood Drive.
The display burst into life to coin-
cide with the beginning of Advent,
the fourth Sunday before Christmas
Day.
AFTER more than three decades
■■
of service, respected Counties Manu-
kau East Police senior constable and
youth education officer, Adele White,
announced she would retire. How-
ever, she would continue her work as
a marriage celebrant and as the How-
ick Local Board’s deputy-chair.
FOUR residents with properties
■■
on the shores of a Tamaki River inlet
in Pakuranga, having battled with
Auckland Council bureaucracy for
four months, were relieved a fallen
tree blocking part of the waterway
would be removed.
AFTER a 19-hour stand-off, police
■■
fired tear gas into a man’s house at
The Esplanade, Eastern Beach, forc-
ing him to come out. Officers were
called to talk to him about an alleged
domestic incident. A Counties Manu-
kau Police spokeswoman said the
38-year-old refused to engage with
officers when they approached the
property. Because he was in posses-
sion of a firearm, the area around The
Esplanade was safely cordoned and
contained to ensure public safety.
BOTANY Downs Secondary Col-
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lege student Shae Parsons, described
her experience of vibrant Chilean cul-
ture during her stay with the Briceño
family. She was one of a group in the
Flying Kiwis, a programme for senior
students studying Spanish at a New
Zealand secondary school. They
spent three weeks in Santiago with
a home-stay family, attending school
and experiencing a new culture while
practising their language skills.
BRETT and Maria Sutherland told
■■
of how they were unable to escape
the emotional pain that had filled
their lives since April 11, the day the
Flat Bush couple’s son Brody Suth-
erland fell off his Ducati motorcycle
while riding along Stancombe Road,
less than a minute from his home.
MOUNTAIN Raiders BMX Club
■■
member Sacha Earnest’s dedication
to riding earned her one of 15 AMP
‘Do Your Thing’ national scholar-
ships worth $10,000. The eight-year-
old two-time BMX world champion
was keen to become an ambassador
for the sport. In 2013, she won the
girls’ 5-7 class at the world champi-
onships in Auckland, and then took
out the girls’ 8 category in The Neth-
erlands. Along with her mum and
dad, Anna and Dion. Sacha applied
for the AMP scholarship to assist
with winning another world title in
Belgium in 2015.
STUDENTS of Riverina School
■■
participated in a 5+ A Day Challenge
for schools when teacher Caroline
Dickinson decided to get the children
more involved by organising a Mas-
ter Chef contest for the entire school.
Each class got a goody bag filled with
ingredients on the day.
DECEMBER: Running a school was essentially about reaching out and building
communities, said Patrick Drumm, the newly-appointed principal of Botany
Downs Secondary College. He was in the process of handing over the reins of
Aorere College in its golden jubilee year.
Times photo Farida Master
Looking back at 2014